We are accepted in the Beloved (Eph.1:16) and we are perfected by His Grace.(Jn17:23) We are reckoned dead to sin but alive to Christ.(Rom.6:11) We are so utterly and hopelessly corrupt when we are born in this world, that there is no rehabilitation. We are simply declared dead. But, God has redeemed our soul and given His Holy Spirit, creating for Himself a New species of mankind. We can never be a "new and improved version" of ourselves. We can only be a new creation. (2Cor.5:17) God has salvaged our soul and spirit, cleansed them with the blood of Jesus Christ, and put us in Christ so that we are in Him and He is in us. We cannot add anything to what He has done. No external form can ever surpass this divine creation of the new second man, the Last Adam.. We are each unique and special in Christ and are particular members of His body, with a unique calling and function. We cannot add nor take away from what He has done, we must merely labor to rest in His divine mercies.
All that the adversary does, is to try to move us from our place of rest. His intention is to plant a seed of doubt so that we wonder if "His grace is sufficient for me?". The adversary desires that we leave that firm foundation, the Rock of our Salvation, and build our house on shifting sand. We are saved by grace through faith, not our own, but a gift from God. (Eph.2:8) We have died, and are reborn in Christ, a new creation...period. This is a done deal. This is the testimony of God, who cannot lie.(Heb.6:18) and this is the only impossible thing attributed to God. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who does not have the Son, does not have the life.(1Jn.5:11-12) However, the devil attempts to divert a true believer by suggesting that grace alone is not sufficient. He poisons the truth by suggesting that salvation is dependent on grace "plus" something else.
Grace plus fasting, Grace plus walking perfectly, Grace plus weekly church attendance, Grace plus covering your head...none of these things are bad, in fact, they may be useful if done in the right attitude, but none of these additional external acts are "essential" for salvation, and this is where the enemy would like to divert believers from their rest in Christ. I submit that these non-essentials are also those things which have divided the body of Christ. The source of discord among fellow believers. This division alone bears witness to its origin, for Christ is not divided against Himself...but we know who does invest himself in breaking up the house of God, for God hates the one who sows discord among brethren. (Prov.6:16-19)
The devil has supplanted many a Christian's faith by suggesting that grace alone is not sufficient, and this he has done throughout the ages. Paul addressed the controversy of circumcision vs uncircumcision...in other words, an external religion versus an internal re-birth. Whether one is circumcised or uncircumcised has no bearing on salvation, God cares only for our hearts.
Women covering or not covering their heads, again, no bearing on our salvation. We are free to honor God in whatever way we feel, but it is the humility of heart that God cares about, not the crown of our head. Sunday or Saturday worship? Both days are named after pagan so-called deities, lets settle this controversy... worship God every day, for THIS is the day the Lord has made, be glad and rejoice in it. Observe civil holidays or shun them? Choose whatever eases your conscience but none adds nor takes away from the efficacy of the grace of God and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, who bore our sins, sicknesses, shame and pain on the cross in order to grant us a means of mercy and reconciliation to Yaweh, our Creator. We are perfect in Christ, as long as we remain in Him. This is the secret place of the Most High. We cannot add anything to our salvation. Whenever we try to perfect ourselves in our own strength, we nullify the grace of God and fall under the curse. We through the Law, died to the Law that we might live for God (read Galations 2&3)
The only way to be "perfect" is to abide in Christ.. Therefore, it is this abiding that the devil would like to distract the saints from. It is a cleverly designed snare because instead of God's all sufficient grace, we insult God by adding some fleshly work to it. When we abide in the vine, we bear fruit as a natural consequence. A fruitful work is produced, but by means of the vine, not the branch.
If I spent countless hours creating a painting for a person, made it perfect, and gave it to him, and then he took a big black brush and painted some odd symbol on it, it would have ruined the gift, even though the receiver may have intended to match his decor. We do the same when we receive God's grace conditionally. It is a testimony that we are unwilling to accept that we are hopelessly corrupt and want to leave a legacy of ourselves in this new work. We insult God in the process, we nullify His grace, and we practically testify that we know nothing of the work of the cross. If our righteousness could be manufactured from our efforts, then Christ died in vain.
Jesus Christ said "I am the vine, you are the branches...abide in Me....".(Jn15:1-4) Whatever else comes our way... "abide in Christ". Temptations and trials disguised as many things are all designed to draw us out from our tabernacle in God, for we are in Christ, and Christ is in God.(Heb.8:2;Col.3:3) He is the secret place of the Most High, He is our hiding place.(Ps.32:7)
Often times the Lord will lead us into desert experiences. A time of spiritual dryness, and this is the time that the devil is most active in interjecting these sorts of temptations. Spiritual dryness, is an unpleasant experience, but is necessary in order that we drive down our roots in faith. The Just shall live by faith (Gal.3:11)...and when we are feeling this arid season, we are often tempted to think we've done something wrong and that we've grieved the heart of God. Certainly we ought to examine ourselves to see if there is something we have done to grieve Him, and prayerfully ask that He reveal it to us, but after having done this, and confessing any sins we might have committed, we are to remember that He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.(1Jn.1:9) If we are genuine and penitent, we have the confidence that God has forgiven us. We proceed into this desert knowing that the Lord will provide a source of spiritual water to keep us alive, as He did when the Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years.
The devil takes advantage of our ignorance and fretting and accuses us during these seasons of dryness...you should do this, or do that...you should incorporate this external religious rite, or turn inward to endless introspection...for our hearts are desperately wicked and we will never run out of things to be guilty of. No, we haven't earned our way!! We don't "deserve" salvation. Regardless of how we try, we can't find the bottom of self to uproot it! But then...."O despair, O discouragement! O pointless and unprofitable life!" That, my friend, is the devils reward for this kind of thinking. We are moved away from grace, and sunk under the curse of the law.
Let us agree, we all fall short in every good work and deed. We haven't earned anything, but praise be to God, His steadfast love, grace and mercy abundantly supplies for all our needs and is forever. We find rest for our weary soul, but we have treated our resting place like a way-station, a stopping place to catch up on our rest and refreshing, only to go out into the world until we are worn out and then back to the way-station. This is not God's way. His way is for us to continually abide. We are in Christ, and He is in us. He supplies an endless fountain of life to us who abide. Abide...abide...abide in Christ. The old man is rotten flesh, we can't make it pretty. Its odious and offensive. We can't improve it. It is decay and useless. Our work is to believe God and in Him Whom He sent (Jn.6:29) and labor into rest. (Heb.4:11) To abide "in Him". Salvation is not self-improvement, its death to self, and life in Christ. The simplicity of the Gospel truth is this: Christ died, and I died with Him, Christ is risen, and I live in Him, He sent His Holy Spirit and He lives in me. Christ in me, I in Christ...a new creation, a new species of mankind, incorruptible and no longer subject to the fall of Adam. All things are new.
Some computer hard drives are so infested and corrupted with computer viruses that they can not be of any use to anyone. They are best discarded and a new hard drive put in the computer. But a fool will try to extract files from the corrupted hard drive to put them on the new hard drive, thereby infecting the new one and in time, be no better off as eventually, the entire new hard drive become utterly corrupted and useless. We likewise, cannot go back and pick out files from our old life and think it won't corrupt the new. Cast it off, bury it, its dead. Trust and obey. We can add nothing...we bring nothing to the table but our open hands and hearts.
No comments:
Post a Comment